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China Reins in Unlicensed Satellites
by Steve Schear 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

China Reins in Unlicensed Satellites Friday, September 6, 2002 Last updated at 12:33:40 p.m. PT By JOE MCDONALD ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER BEIJING -- Faced with the hijacking of its television signals by Falun Gong protesters and pirate broadcasters, China says it is cracking down on unauthorized use of satellite communication networks and ground relay stations. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=…

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Take neem to Mongo's barbie.
by Matthew X 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992770 West Nile virus reaches California 12:40 09 September 02 NewScientist.com news service A Californian woman has been infected with West Nile virus, preliminary tests suggest. If confirmed, the case will mark the virus's spread right across the US just three years after the first human case in New York. "We have been anticipating the arrival of West Nile virus in California as reports of the disease have progressed steadily westward across the United States," California's State Health Director said. The woman was treated for meningitis, a symptom of West Nile infection, in early August and had not travelled outside the Los Angeles region shortly before falling ill, health officials confirmed. The results of final West Nile tests are expected by the end of this week. On Friday, Canada also reported its first West Nile case, in Ontario. Four other "probable" cases are also being investigated, health officials said.

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Balancing Linux and Microsoft
by Steve Schear 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

Balancing Linux and Microsoft By STEVE LOHR For nearly two years, Bruce Perens was a senior strategist for open-source software at Hewlett-Packard an evangelist and rabble-rouser on behalf of a computing counterculture that is increasingly moving into the mainstream. Part of the job description, he was told, was to "challenge H.P. management." His last day as a Hewlett-Packard employee was 10 days ago. The parting was amicable, Mr. Perens said, but he was fired "officially a termination," he noted. "It came after a long, long warning," Mr. Perens explained. "The thing that I did that was most hazardous for H.P. is the Microsoft-baiting I tend to do." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/09/technology/09SOFT.html

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Something for FREE again!
by Computer Developments UK 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

This weeks one off email only offer is FREE installation of Sophos Anti-Virus if you purchase this software for 5 or more users and are within a 30 mile radius of our offices in Witney. Also please give us a call for our unbeatable prices, on hardware and software, as we won't be beaten on price. If you would like to take advantage of this offer please contact our Sales Team on 01993 849200, stating you had this offer via email. Regards The Sales Team Computer Developments UK All Offers are made subject to availability. Prices quoted are exclusive of VAT. All trademarks acknowledged. All sales subject to CD-UK's Terms and Conditions. To be removed from our email list please reply with remove as the subject and also stating email address if different from the one you are using, thank you. Computer Developments UK, Waterside Court, Witan Way, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX28 6FE Telephone: 01993 849200 Fax: 0870 458 2385 Email:mailto:sales@cd-uk.net

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Fwd: Blofeld found near Corralito's stop licensed to kill stop eyes only stop
by Matthew X 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

> >Subject: Blofeld found near Corralito's stop licensed to kill stop eyes >only stop >Backgound for Infiltration purposes. >Adventures of Fluffy, American Dissident Cat; >(September 9) It's started again. Early in the morning some idiot starts >ringing my doorbell. It was ringing and ringing and ringing, and I knew >right away it was one of the Geriatric Gestapo of the Neighborhood Watch >Association. They're the only ones that would do it - ring five or six >times in a row like that. And sure enough it was - complaining about the >Fluffster. Anyway Fluffy the cat was over at the golf club parking lot, >where he likes to hang out with all the Cadillacs and their American flags >that the Geriatric Gestapo like to put on their cars. The Fluffster has >gotten into the habit of tearing the flags off of them. > >To him, it's just something to play with. The flags are blowing in the >breeze, and the cat gets on top of the cars. He takes his paws and grabs >at the flag and his claws get stuck in the flag. Then in order to get his >claws out, he will literally tear the flag right off the little wooden >pole. His claws get stuck in there because they're all cheap little >seventy-nine cent American flags - made in China, of course. They're just >stapled on to the wood. So the Fluffster, in order to get his claws out, >has to tear the flag off the pole. And people are thinking he's doing it >on purpose. These oldsters are convinced that I've trained him to do it on >purpose because I told them so. I've told them that the Fluffster is a >duly enlightened cat, and he's doing his part to prevent the spread of >"Dangerous Blind Patriotism." > >I put his little army helmet on today and he's all set. He's got a >miniature army helmet I bought him through this cat mail order place. They >sell all sorts of stuff for cats. The Fluffster actually seems to like it. >It's a little green plastic helmet with webbing over it and it looks >exactly like a World War II helmet and it has places for his ears. It says >the Big Red One on it and it has a little elastic that goes under his >chin. It doesn't seem to bother him and he doesn't try to pull it off, but >then, of course, he's half stoned all the time. > >He eats catnip incessantly. He'll go through a bag of it in no time. I >used to give him just a teaspoon of organically grown fresh catnip a day. >It's good for the cat's bowels and urinary tract. It evidently keeps them >regular like bran flakes for people. I kept giving him more and more and >then I thought I'll just give him the whole bag. He's an All American Cat. >He's stoned all day on catnip. His eyes are always glazed over and he's >having a hell of a time. > >Catnip is to Cats what Jack Daniels and Prozac is to the Bush Family. > >So he's out there this morning with his little helmet on, tearing the >flags off the Geriatrics' Cadillacs. The old people actually believe me >when I tell them that I've trained him to do this and that the Fluffster >is doing his part so the Geriatric Gestapo don't succumb to "Dangerous >Blind Patriotism." And, of course, none of them want to hear that. > >So now I've been told that for every seventy-nine cent American flag "Made >in China" that he pulls down, we'll get fined five dollars. They're just >fine happy and they just love it because the fines go into the clubhouse >fund to support the geriatric exercise room where they're now learning the >goose-step. Instead of aerobics, they have Goose Stepping 101. You don't >know how wild the Neighborhood Watch Association seniors can get. (See >previous story on "Close Encounters With Neighborhood Watch") > >Their biggest problem is that their brittle belief systems, from the time >when they were young, are all calcified -- and they're collapsing all >around them. Since their minds have long since atrophied, they go into >this numb way of living, so they're just numb to everything. It's like >All-Natural Prozac, and they all hang out with each other because they're >all equally naïve and provincial. They all take the senior citizen shuttle >bus to Wal-Mart for the Thursday double discount seniors' day. Loaded with >their trading stamp booklets and every discount card in the world, they go >driving around in their electric three wheelers. They bang into each other >and their false teeth come out. More of them have lost their false teeth >at Wal-Mart banging into each other than you can imagine. It's like >Dodge-Em Cars or Bumper Cars in this place. And that's what it looks like >because none of them can half see anymore. Their eye-hand coordination is >pretty well gone. You go into the Wal-Mart and it looks like a bunch of >oldsters playing Bumper Cars and then when one of them drives onto the >other, they yell and cry out, "Whiplash" and "I'm going to get my lawyer." > >And they actually have ads on the back of the bus benches in front of the >place from every ambulance-chasing lawyer in town. The one I love is >called Rosenberg Rosenthal Rosencrantz and Rosenwitz. That's the name of >the law firm. They have the most prominent ad and it shows a picture of >two oldsters banging into each other in the dodge em cars. One of them has >whiplash and a neck brace and the other one has lost his false teeth and >his hearing aid has popped out and got run over. And another oldster in >back is saying, "If you've suffered an injury in the dodge em cars, call >the attorneys at Rosenberg Rosenthal Rosencrantz and Rosenwitz. We have a >combined hundred years experience in ambulance chasing." > >This is just the latest episode in the ongoing adventures of the >Almeister, the machinations of Fluffster and Company and the >Goose-Stepping Geriatric Gestapo Neighborhood Watch Asssociation. It >almost sounds like a TV show. > >MORE ON >www.almartinraw.com COMING SOON: An actual unretouched photograph of the Fluffster complete with his Commie red collar and his Chinese Commie green ID tag.

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Secret Service in crisis.
by Matthew X 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/020909/usnews/9service.htm On a warm summer night last year, a 19-year-old woman sat in a crowded bar, engaged in a rite of passage familiar to countless college-age teens: persuading a bartender to break the law and sell her a drink. This was no ordinary teenager, though. She was Jenna Bush, the daughter of President George W. and first lady Laura Bush. The bartender was amenable to serving the young womanuntil he spotted two agents from her Secret Service detail. Nervous, he approached the agents and asked what he should do. Use your best judgment, the agents shrugged. The bartender promptly asked Jenna Bush to leave. She was furious. A Secret Service agent familiar with the incident told U.S. News that Jenna berated her agents, then fled the bar into a dark alley. Sources say one of the agents chased Jenna, and she taunted him. "You know if anything happens to me," she said, "my dad would have your ass." Not quite. After she called her father to complain about the incident, which is still widely recounted among agents, President Bush declined to side with Jenna. Laura Bush, however, was concerned about what Jenna and her twin sister, Barbara, view as repeated intrusions into their privacy. As a result, sources say, agents assigned to the protective details of the Bush twins have been ordered to pull back from traditional methods of coverage. Many agents say they regard this as a serious security risk. "They have no concept," says one source who has protected members of the Bush family. ". . . They act like they don't have any concept of world events and how vulnerable they are or can be." Protecting the lives of families of top government officials has never been easy. By the same token, living under the controlling, intrusive, often overbearing, and seemingly omnipotent presence of agents can be stifling for political leaders and their families, especially for children. Presidents do what they can to strike a balance between protecting themselves and their families by acceding to the demands of agents, at the same time fighting for the right to have some semblance of a normal life. Some family members unused to the constant presence of armed law enforcement officers seek restrictions on agents' activities and guarantees of privacy. Others, more hostile, rebel and try to give their minders the slip, as Jenna's sister, Barbara, has done. Last April, Barbara's agents were lampooned by the Yale University magazine Rumpus after the car she was in sped through an E-ZPass lane as Barbara and her friends drove from New Haven, Conn., to a World Wrestling Federation match in New York. Members of her security detail had to wait in the toll lane on a bridge into Manhattan, then weave through traffic at high speeds to catch up. In Texas, Jenna evaded her Secret Service agents following class last fall, after the September 11 attacks, sources say. When she finally surfaced after several hours, a supervisor on her protective detail lectured the young woman and warned against repeating such behavior. The Bush twins aren't alone. Secret Service sources tell U.S. News that shortly after 9/11, President Bush sought expanded coverage for other Bush family members through an executive order. But this June, President Bush changed his mind and ordered the Secret Service to discontinue the security details he had authorized for several family members. "They are dictating coverage," says a Secret Service agent. "And what's worse is we're letting them." "Protective methodology." After September 11, Secret Service executives made significant additions to President Bush's security arrangements. But some agents worry that Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, with its vast, open spaces, poses serious staffing and logistical challenges, difficulties that give pause to even the toughest military-trained tactical teams in the service. Providing security for its protectees in remote locations like the president's ranch is regarded as among the most difficult challenges by Secret Service executives, agents, and officers. How to best guarantee the safety of the president, the vice president, and their families is just one element of a larger debate among line agents, uniformed officers, and Secret Service executives about the agency's changing role and responsibilities. In the past year, Director Brian Stafford has implemented a broad new security theory known as "protective methodology." Many agents and officers say this plan goes against the grain of time-tested Secret Service methods and practices and could expose protectees and their bodyguards to possible attack by reducing customary layers of protective "insulation." The changes include cutting the number of posts where agents and officers stand guard, eliminating some technical assets like magnetometers, ballistic glass, and armored plating, and withdrawing Counter Sniper, Counter Surveillance, Counter Assault, and other tactical teams. "Basically, what we are doing now and what we were trained to do are at different ends of the spectrum," says a veteran agent. "It doesn't make sense." Director Stafford declined to respond to an interview request. Paul Irving, who heads the Office of Government Liaison and Public Affairs, also failed to reply to a detailed list of questions for this article. A senior White House official who works closely with the Secret Service said he believes the service is doing a "terrific" job protecting President Bush and other top government officials and their families. Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman, also declined to respond to specific questions, saying, "We do not discuss security issues. The president and Mrs. Bush are grateful and appreciative for the outstanding job the Secret Service does in protecting the first family and others." Traditionally, the Secret Service has relied on a guarantee of 360-degree coverage of its protectees. The approach calls for a team of agents enveloping the person under protection in a kind of moving box, covering him or her from all angles. The new protective methodology, by contrast, is based on an evaluation of "threat assessments," calculating different levels of risk confronting protectees like the vice president, his wife, and their children, the president's children, and the first lady. Using current intelligence information and historic precedents like past assassination attempts, Secret Service executives determine how many agents and what kinds of special teams and capabilities to assign individual protectees. For instance, vice presidents have been considered a relatively low assassination risk. Vice President Cheney, as a result, under the protective methodology approach, like other VPs, has received fewer assets and tactical support teams than the president. Some Secret Service agents say that a protective theory based so heavily on intelligence analysis may be dangerously flawed, especially in light of the intelligence failures that occurred prior to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. These individuals say that Secret Service executives have sometimes ignored or discounted security recommendations more heavily weighted to intelligence analysis, despite the fact that such analysis has been so heavily emphasized by Director Stafford and other proponents of the protective-methodology theory. Shortly after September 11, Cheney's security was beefed up. Then in December, Stafford and his deputy, Danny Spriggs, met with Secret Service agents and Uniformed Division officers at the Naval Observatory, Cheney's official residence. Sources say the meeting was intended as a morale booster. Stafford told the agents and officers that though they were not assigned to the elite presidential protective detail, they were doing a vitally important job. Intelligence analysts rated Cheney as a higher security risk than President Bush, Stafford continued, because of his having served as the first President Bush's secretary of defense during the Persian Gulf War a decade ago. The war, and the presence of thousands of American troops in Saudi Arabia before, during and after it, have been cited as a principal source of grievance by Osama bin Laden and others in his al Qaeda terrorist organization. Shortly after the meeting, however, several sources tell U.S. News, Secret Service executives reduced the level of Cheney's protection. "You say this guy is the biggest threat? They started cutting," says one former officer. "They were short of manpower for the Olympics. They cut posts everywhere." By Christmas, several Secret Service officials say, the special Counter Assault, Counter Sniper, and Emergency Response teams assigned to Cheney immediately after September 11 were phased out. For months, the Secret Service also rejected recommendations for magnetometers, or X-ray machines, to screen attendees at public events where Cheney appeared. These same sources say the service began assigning more Mag officers, as they are called, to Cheney's detail after U.S. News reported (June 17, 2002) on the agency's recent cost-cutting measures and personnel difficulties. The Treasury Department's inspector general initiated an investigation of each of the allegations cited in the magazine's earlier story. That inquiry is continuing, sources say. The department's top law enforcement official, Under Secretary for Law Enforcement Jimmy Gurulé, sources say, has also begun interviewing officers to gauge the extent of problems documented by the magazine in the Secret Service's Uniformed Division. "Brokenhearted." The agents who spoke to U.S. News for this account are all currently employed by the Secret Service and have held a variety of high-profile assignments, including protecting the president and vice president, the first lady, Lynne Cheney, and other members of the Bush and Cheney families. They spoke on condition of strict anonymity. In addition, U.S. News spoke to many former Uniformed Division officers who have guarded the White House complex and foreign embassies in and around Washington, D.C. The agents and officers declined to discuss sensitive protective techniques and methods so as not to compromise protectees' safety or the security of the White House complex. Many of the agents and officers told the magazine that they decided to come forward after the earlier U.S. News article because of growing concerns about their ability to ensure the safety of some protecteesfamily members who typically receive little or no protective coverage. More than a dozen agents who have served on protective details for a particular family member at various times over the past year have expressed concern that security measures the Secret Service has implemented on that individual's behalf were dangerously inadequate. U.S. News has refrained from publishing certain security information obtained during the reporting and research for this article and is withholding the name, location, and other details about the individual cited by these agents for security reasons. "If something happens to this protectee," says one agent, "it would cause great embarrassment. Not to mention the family; they would be brokenhearted." In addition to the merits of the new protective-methodology plan, some agents question the timing of its implementation. The Secret Service budget has increased 75 percent since 1999, to $1.05 billion today. At the same time, though, the service has suffered a debilitating loss of manpower while the scope of its protective and investigative missions has increased significantly. After the September 11 attacks, President Bush increased the number of protectees from 17 to 38. The number is now down to 22, but that's still a significant increase for a relatively small force of nearly 3,000 agents and roughly 1,000 Uniformed Division officers. The service has butted heads with other agencies like the FBI as it has sought to expand the original mission for which it was createdcombating counterfeitingto take on new responsibilities like investigating cybercrimes and international financial crimes. The service has also been given primary responsibility for providing security at what it calls national security special events like the Super Bowl and the recent Winter Olympics Games in Salt Lake City. The new missions come at the same time the departures of agents and officers are accelerating. In the past year, more than 100 plainclothes agents have retired, quit, or taken jobs with the newly created Transportation Security Administration, internal Secret Service records show. In the past two months alone, the service has lost special agents-in-charge of its field offices in Cincinnati, Oklahoma City, Orlando, St. Louis, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Kansas City, Mo. Many agents say they are leaving because they are fed up and want better pay and more humane working conditions, including less travel. These agents are averaging 81 hours overtime per month. A unique Secret Service pension plan allows retirement-age agents to rejoin the federal government at other agencies at elevated pay grades. Even elite Counter Sniper technicians from the Uniformed Division, who fill some of the most-sought-after and prestigious positions in the service, are leaving. CS marksmen guard the roof of the White House and travel on presidential and vice presidential advance trips to identify and assess possible security risks. Sometimes, Secret Service executives have had so few CS technicians that they have been forced to resort to what one source describes as "pseudo protection," for presidential or vice presidential events, shining powerful floodlights, hanging huge drapes, or erecting special barriers in lieu of posting Counter Snipers at vulnerable location. In recent months, the shortage of CS technicians has been so acute that on several occasions, only one officer has been assigned to plan advance security for an event involving the president or vice president. "They were cutting down power to do basic assessments," says a veteran Secret Service official. "CS advance is very difficult. You could see [the technician] running around like a madman." Double standard. Morale in the service is plummeting, many agents say, in part because of a widely perceived double standard. Agents who enjoy close relationships with Secret Service executives in Washington are given more favorable assignments and other treatment than those who don't, many in the service say. In the sometimes arcane parlance of the Secret Service, these agents have what is known as a "hook" with headquarters. The Secret Service has also had long-standing management difficulties with its Uniformed Division, the officers and technicians who are at the front line of defense at the White House and at foreign missions. They include members of the elite Counter Sniper teams, the Emergency Response Team, and the K-9 bomb squad units. Many of these officers complain of being treated as second-class citizens. Plainclothes agents sometimes refer to uniformed officers as "box creatures," because they stand watch in the little white booths around the White House grounds. Sources say that some officers who transferred and became plainclothes agents found anonymous notes soon after taking up their new duties saying, "once a guard, always a guard." Many of the uniformed officers are overworked, with even supervisors forced to put in an enormous amount of overtime. Since last October, the Secret Service has lost more than 256 Uniformed Division officers, according to internal statistics provided to U.S. News; if current trends continue, the total could rise as high as 400 by year's end, nearly a third of the Uniformed Division's workforce. The personnel drain throughout the service has led to a decrease in the number of officers and agents available to protect the White House. "They cut posts around the White House before 9/11," says one source. Secret Service executives have had to shift officers who train cadets at the Beltsville, Md., academy to the White House complex. Officers assigned to guard foreign missions around Washington have also been shifted to stand post at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Valued members of the Secret Service's technical staff are also departing in significant numbers, including telephone and computer experts and highly trained encryption specialists. Pressure cooker. The numbers alone are alarming, many inside the Secret Service say, but they also translate into a worrisome loss of experience among those who remain. When veteran trainers and supervisors leave, they take with them years of institutional knowledge and practical, hands-on experience that often cannot be taught by less experienced personnel. Agents and former Uniformed Division officers tell U.S. News that they fear that the enormous pressure to quickly hire and train new agents, combined with the lower hiring standards that were implemented in recent years, may further compromise security, if the wrong people are brought on board. In the past, Secret Service job applicants who had used any drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, were automatically disqualified and sent on their way. But now, sources say, an applicant who has stayed clear of marijuana for just 36 months and smoked it only 10 times can still qualify. And the Secret Service will consider candidates with cocaine or heroin useas long as it was before their 21st birthday. The service now classifies such activity as a "youthful indiscretion." In meetings with members of Congress, Treasury Department overseers, and White House officials, Secret Service executives have sought to downplay the extent of personnel problems. But they have also had little to say publicly about their new approach to guarding high government officials and their families. Director Stafford and his deputies have committed very little information about the new protective-methology procedures to paper, several agents say. These agents worry that there has not been the kind of rigorous training, testing, and lesson planning based on the new protective theory, as has been the case with traditional protective methods. Agents and officers interviewed for this article expressed concern that if something goes wrong, there is so little on paper about the protective-methodology procedures that line agents and officers may be held accountable for decisions made by higher-ups. "Congress," says one veteran agent, "is going to grill our behinds, barbecue our backsides when, not if, but whensomething happens." Adds another agent: "All you're doing is counting the days and hours you've been lucky." Some key causes of concern: The Secret Service is so hard pressed to find trained Mag officers to screen people attending public functions with the president, vice president, and other top officials that it has had to reduce the number of such officers at some events. When heads of Secret Service details request Mag officers, they are often told that none is available; when they turn in security advance plans to headquarters, approved plans often come back with the number of Mag officers reduced, even for the president's detail, sources say. Detail heads have been forced on some occasions to pull agents from other posts to fill in near X-ray machines to scan crowds or even to use hand-held devices to screen attendees. One source says agents assigned to Cheney always make sure they are "vested up," have their bulletproof vests on, when they don't get magnetometer support and worry that a terrorist or a deranged person might sneak a gun into an event. Because of concerns in part over excessive cost, Secret Service officials have declined to install ballistic glass in front of windows of hotels or other venues where key protectees have been scheduled to appear. "They won't put up ballistic glass," says an agent, "because they have to pay money to bring in a truck with a hydraulic lift to roll the glass in." Supervisors also frequently nix requests from agents for camouflaged armored sheets of steel used at outdoor events or in hotels to guard against sniper fire. Agents say the Secret Service has failed to adjust its post-9/11 security procedures to address the potential threat of an aerial attack. The service, sources say, must demand more aggressive vetting of small aircraft by local police and other government agencies in advance of public events involving the president and vice president. Agents say they are especially worried about charter planes, because they receive virtually no security screening and their flight paths are typically not monitored. "It raises concerns," says one agent, "about how to reassure those who are under our protection about their safety, when really, we can't." Security precautions taken for the first lady, some agents say, are often dangerously inadequate. In Washington, Laura Bush's motorcade does not even get the benefit of "intersection control"coordinated traffic lights, a basic security measure accorded many high-risk visiting foreign dignitaries. And agents say they are concerned about the security of the vice president's wife, Lynne. When her father was president, Chelsea Clinton was regularly assigned a two-man Counter Assault Team, in addition to her regular detail, after she received threats when she was a Stanford University student. The Bush daughters briefly were assigned similar teams after September 11, sources say, but they have since been pulled back. Added to the loss of experienced agents and officers, many in the Secret Service believe executives remain skeptical of the value of some elite special units like Counter Assault, Counter Surveillance, and Emergency Response teamsthe Pentagon-trained Uniformed Division officers who protect the White House. These sources say that many senior supervisory agents in the field and officials at headquarters are philosophically at odds with using these techniques. "They think we are cowboys," says a former veteran Emergency Response Team member, "and that it's overkill." This former officer and other sources say there's a kind of generation gap, due in part to the fact that many senior officials never went through the specialized training now required of the Secret Service's most elite units. Training is a key measurement. Many agents and officers describe the training of new recruits as excellent, but others say the Secret Service is behind the curve. "These guys think old school," says one former officer who came to the Secret Service from the military. The specialized teams train to respond to multiple threats, like the September 11 attacks, and to rocket, chemical, and biological assaults. But most officers not on the elite teams and nonspecial team agents are still trained on a "single cycle" threat, such as that posed by a lone gunman. Some of these agents believe that after 9/11, the service should have modified its training curriculum to focus more on responding to multipronged attacks. "Standing down." Paramount among the Secret Service's high-priority protective missions, of course, is the White House and its inhabitants. Despite the agency's ability to scramble and redeploy agents and officers from other responsibilities over the past year, the challenge is only likely to grow, agents and officers say. More than five years ago, special operations experts from the elite military counterterrorism unit Delta Force conducted a threat assessment of the White House and found numerous vulnerabilities. Secret Service executives have implemented only a few minor changes since that study, sources say. The threats are varied and not easy, in some cases, to counter. Veteran Secret Service officers worry, for example, about the long-standing custom of "standing down" when members of Congress come to call at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. One former officer says he requested a congressman's voting card to double-check the member's identification and was "reamed out" by his supervisor after the congressman complained. Officers who spoke with U.S. News for this article say they have been forced time and again to allow members of Congress to enter the White House complex without identification because they have complained loudly when challenged. The worries, these sources say, are not misplaced. In April 1994, at the funeral reception for former President Richard Nixon at his library in Yorba Linda, Calif., a middle-aged man using fake identification papers sauntered through the VIP-congressional area and approached then President Clinton and former President George Bush. He attempted to engage them in conversation before he was finally detained, arrested, and charged with trespassing. "There's no way we can know even a quarter of these people," says one officer. "Yet we are supposed to allow them onto the ground without a picture ID. You can buy congressional pins or congressional license plates off eBay." The Secret Service has a long and proud history of meeting difficult challenges and beating them. Many agents and officers, still intensely loyal to the agency, say they believe that with the right leadership and an influx of new blood, the service can handle whatever new demands it is required to meet. But others worry that the double whammy of personnel losses and increased responsibilities may be impeding the ability of the agency to function at the high levels expected of it. For some in the Secret Service, that challenge comes down to a decidedly personal level. "I hate to say this, but I couldn't have cared less," says one officer who has left the service. "If someone tried something, I probably would have missed it, because I just did not care."

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R.A.T.M.
by Matthew X 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

http://www.ratm.com/ Rage against the machine reformation rumours. http://www.musicfanclubs.org/rage/ Renegades of funk. The revolutionary band Rage Against the Machine has announced today that they would be uniting again after the band disbanded to pursue separate careers over a year ago. "We've been re-called by the Sony corporation to sell products to the masses." Said lead singer Zach de la Rocha at a press conference last Thursday. The band also announced that because they have re-united they are making some new changes to their old records. In this article they have asked me to include the new lyric sheets for some of the new songs and to name-drop their major brand name corporation, Sony. Who are now using the once revolutionary song Killing In The Name Of, to pimp the world the Sony corporation's video game machine, Playstation. The re-naming of their songs has spawned from this new revolutionary co-opt. "The first song we want to change is Guerilla Radio. We decided to change it to 'Sony Playstation'. We were gonna change it to 'Sony Radio' but decided to go with 'Sony Playstation' as we thought this might be better to pimp Playstations" said lead singer Zach de la Rocha. Their new lyrics have been dubbed by Maximum Rock and Roll as "The most revolutionary new mantra the sony corporation has ever owned." The new lyrics are as follow: Guerilla playstation! "Transmission third world war third round. Play Colin Mcrae Rally for full surround sound No shelter if your looking for shade, most of our games come from Accolade. As the polls close like I casket, all truth devoured You'll see our ads in the shadow of power. A spectacle monopolized, buy Sony II there's no choice disguised. Is it Crash Bandicoot for those who burn and toil? Or free toasters for the thirst for blood and oil A spectacle monopolized we hold the reigns now close your eyes For the fist-a-gon and Sony corporation Who stuff the banks and staff the party ranks Exports? Or housing for the poor. None of the above fuck it plug in the chord Lights out, Sony Playstation Turn that shit on Lights out Sony Playstation. Turn that shit on! Contact I hijacked the TV screen Selling you Playstation and our CDs Way past the days of protesting DC Sound off. Now you'll never be free. Who got 'em yo check the federal file. All you Rage fans see they sold out in style The army of pigs smiles then bins your file Cause your on the idiot box and the radio dial Lights out Sony Playstation. Turn that shit on. Lights out Sony Playstation. Turn that shit on" With smashing lyrics like that they sell playstatoins to the poorest most oppressed RATM fans. They have also announced that their song that was almost number one around the world was also going to be changed. Killing in the Name Of which was a major success world wide, is now being changed to Sellin' Sony Playstation the lyrics are as follows: So I know that market forces. Call for big corporate mergers The call for big corporate mergers Are because of market forces Selling Sony Playstation Selling Sony Playstation MORE ON http://www.raisethefist.com/news.cgi?artical=wire/----9858853t4a.article

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Presidential guards murder detail.
by Matthew X 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

Guatemala Tries 3 Officers, Saying They Instigated '90 Killing After years of delays and intimidation, three high-ranking officers who once commanded a presidential security and intelligence unit are being tried on charges that they masterminded the killing of a vocal critic of the military in 1990.....( New York Times, 9 Sep 02) Trial alleges Guatemalan guard's deadly role Myrna Mack knew the death squads were after her. The 39-year-old anthropologist asked neighbors to watch for intruders outside her home, began varying her travel habits and told a priest she feared for her life. They got her anyway.....( AP, 8 Sep 02) Guatamala used PROMIS stolen Inslaw software to track and trace dissidents.The AFP still use it even though it's said to have a CIA backdoor. The reminders of Canada's role in an espionage scandal in Israel have distant echoes of 40 years ago when Canada was researching North Vietnam for the UN and leaking information to the CIA through ASIS.Page 85.'Oyster' by Brian Toohey.

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San Diego secrets a go go.
by Matthew X 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20020907-9999_2m7computer.html Sailor gets 7 months in theft of secret Navy property Petty officer took hard drives, data By James W. Crawley UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER September 7, 2002 In a case interlaced with theft, potential espionage and the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, a Navy submariner pleaded guilty yesterday to charges he improperly possessed defense secrets and stole and sold government-owned computer hard drives. Petty Officer 1st Class Bryan Moody was sentenced by a military judge to seven months in the brig, loss of pay and was reduced to seaman recruit. Moody, an electrician's mate, formerly assigned to the submarine Helena at Point Loma Naval Base, likely will be dismissed from the Navy after he completes his sentence. Despite describing the case as "extremely troubling," Navy prosecutors agreed to lesser charges to keep classified information from being divulged during the court-martial and for Moody's cooperation in determining whether military secrets were compromised. "The primary importance in these cases is the damage assessment," said Lt. Cmdr. Shannon Kopplin. "There is a competing government concern that's of equal or greater importance than confining someone (in jail)." As part of the plea bargain, the most serious charge, possession of classified information, was dropped in favor of a lesser count of possessing national defense documents. Moody could have been sentenced to more than 18 years on all the charges. Navy investigators found dozens of computer diskettes, a secret Navy chart and three pictures that officials said were classified "secret" at Moody's San Diego home and at his former wife's residence in San Diego, after she called authorities. The diskettes reportedly contained classified tests and exam questions about the nuclear reactors and submarine operations, both closely held naval secrets. The chart, sources familiar with the case said, included information about efforts to track a Russian submarine off the West Coast several years ago. Navy officials, citing security concerns, refused to comment. The pictures showed Moody and another sailor inside the Helena's top-secret reactor compartment, sources said. Between 1996 and June 2001, Moody stole from the Helena at least five computer hard drives, which the Navy was trading in for new equipment. Moody sold three of the five drives on E-Bay to people in Illinois, Pennsylvania and Florida. Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents tracked down two drives, but one sold to a man in Florida was resold to a Texas used-parts distributor, which sold it to a firm in the Dominican Republic. None of the hard drives seized by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service contained classified information, and there was no evidence Moody had passed secrets to foreign agents, testified special agent Krista Pixley. The Sept. 11 attack put an interesting spin on the case. The chart had been sent to the Pentagon for review by Navy intelligence officers last summer. It was destroyed when the hijacked jetliner crashed into the building. Moody argued that a lax attitude aboard the Helena allowed him to take the hard drives out of recycling bins and casually remove secret information. "I never viewed my actions as aberrant at the time," he said during his sentencing. But, now, Moody said, "I've harmed the U.S. Navy with my actions."

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Busy week in counterintelligence.
by Matthew X 09 Sep '02

09 Sep '02

Petty officer took hard drives, data In a case interlaced with theft, potential espionage and the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, a Navy submariner pleaded guilty yesterday to charges he improperly possessed defense secrets and stole and sold government-owned computer hard drives......( Union-Tribune, 7 Sep 02) Sailor possessed military secrets Navy submariner pleaded guilty to charges he improperly possessed defense secrets and stole government-owned computer hard drives, which he later sold on the Internet.....( AP, 7 Sep 02) Little Change in a System That Failed The Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have proven remarkably resilient in defense of their own turf.....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) When Playing the Field, the Game Gets Rough THE conventional wisdom about what is troubling American intelligence, particularly human intelligence the stuff spies do is that the system is broken; that on Sept. 11 the Central Intelligence Agency just did not have enough language-qualified spy handlers on the ground around the world to do the job.....( New York Times op-ed by Milt Bearden, 8 Sep 02) Spy History 101: America's Intelligence Quotient MOST of America's best-known spies from Nathan Hale to Francis Gary Powers and from the Rosenbergs to Aldrich H. Ames are remembered because they got caught or because they spied against their country.....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) Getting the Intelligence Services a Vulnerable Nation Needs If anything changed after Sept. 11, it was America's sense of invulnerability. Suddenly, this became a nation under threat, a nation without security. What needs to be done, what can be done short and long term by the intelligence services to protect the United States against future attack?.....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) Eyes in the Sky, Ears to the Wall, and Still Wanting ....For more than 50 years, providing the country with early warning of a nuclear missile attack from Russia has been the first priority of the American intelligence community. The system has worked well, thanks largely to billions of dollars worth of technical intelligence.....( New York Times op-ed by James Bamford, 8 Sep 02) Learning to Spy With Allies What will Al Qaeda do next? One big problem in figuring it out has been that, in important ways, the terrorist network is more effectively globalized than the modern intelligence organizations that try to penetrate it....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) Bin Laden's Guys Have Cloaks and Daggers, Too FOR all the resources American agents are devoting to watching the myriad tentacles of Al Qaeda, one of the things they have been forced to consider is that Al Qaeda may be watching them.....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) Pearl Harbor as Prologue Why does intelligence fail? Remember Pearl Harbor....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) Trust No One: In New York, Everyone Is Suspect now thinks we ought to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior and bring it to the attention of the experts who keep files on suspiciousness.....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) Face It: Your Looks Are Revealing In the last year, intelligence agents have been showing more interest in the work of the California psychologist Paul Ekman than ever before.....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) The Real Me: The Online Version It is no secret that the Internet offers a wealth of information. It's even known that much of what we used to call "intelligence" is freely available online. I decided to find out what I could learn about myself just by consulting Internet-based resources....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) Book Contends Chief of A-Bomb Team Was Once a Communist Adding a startling chapter to the long historical debate over the secret laboratory that developed the atom bomb in World War II, a new book concludes that its leader, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, belonged to the American Communist Party in the late 1930's and early 40's.....( New York Times, 8 Sep 02) [Read review of book by CI Centre Professor Nigel West] Trial alleges Guatemalan guard's deadly role Myrna Mack knew the death squads were after her. The 39-year-old anthropologist asked neighbors to watch for intruders outside her home, began varying her travel habits and told a priest she feared for her life. They got her anyway.....( AP, 8 Sep 02) The US is expanding its Echelon spy network THE DEFENSE MINISTRY SAYS THAT BUILDING AN AMERICAN RADAR STATION IN LATVIA COULD ENDANGER THE SECURITY OF NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE. RUSSIAN STRATEGISTS ARE ALREADY REGRETTING SHUTTING DOWN THE RADIO INTELLIGENCE STATION AT LOURDES, CUBA, AND ARE ACCUSING THE US OF INCONSISTENCY AND DOUBLE STANDARDS.....( Russia Weekly, 8 Sep 02) http://www.cicentre.com/

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